I’m Co-Teaching A Free Photoshop Compositing Course On CreativeLive

I’m super excited to announce that I will be helping my friend, professional retoucher, Lisa Carney in her class coming up with CreativeLive. Ignore the fashion image when clicking on that link, we are not doing a fashion shoot, we are shooting the image above with a beverage on set.

This week is Photoshop week on CreativeLive. If you aren’t familiar with CL, let me tell you about it. CL lets you watch, for free, any of their classes when they are broadcasted live. All you have to do is sign up with your email. They have all sorts of classes about all kinds of creative subjects.

Lisa is a professional retoucher, and has been doing image retouching for 25 years. We actually went to school together way back when at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena in the 90’s. We spent many long nights working on our photography homework assignments together. She is extremely knowledgable, and very generous with her trade secrets.

What Is A Composite Image?

A composite image image is an image that is actually made from several other images or parts of several other images put together into one final image.

The class that Lisa is teaching is all about image composites for advertising and commercial work, and it’s only 90 minutes long. I will be her photographer shooting live during the broadcast with Lisa there with me on set. I will be photographing a beverage (like you see above) on a set, and we will have Lisa composite a background onto the image during the class – so you can see all her tricks live!

I’ll talk about shooting beverages, applying the fake condensation that never dries up, the different kinds of fake ice cubes I have in my kit, and lots of other fun stuff.

We will discuss what it’s like working with a retoucher and how the photographer can help the retoucher by shooting images to be used for composite, Lisa will show you how she does this type of compositing, plus a lot more.

I will be talking about things that I do on set to help the retoucher. Working with a retoucher is a great experience. They can really enhance your photography. Your retoucher will really push your vision further to help create an image you couldn’t do on your own. It’s a true partnership. In the advertising world, it’s extremely common to have our images retouched for the client. It’s important to learn how to work with a retoucher and embrace this collaboration.

In this class, I will be shooting a clear beverage in a clear glass two ways. We’ll be shooting it on a white background, and if there’s time, we’ll be shooting a variation with a printed background to show you the differences with the backgrounds in post.

The live broadcast will happen this Thursday, May 17th, at 9:00 am Pacific time.

Hi there! I'm Christina Peters, food photographer, teacher, and blogger. I live in LA, shoot anywhere and I love all things food. I've been shooting professionally for more than 25 years and I also teach food photography classes. I blog about photography tips and tricks. I also crave Maryland crab cakes daily. Read More…